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Lender (Dakotaverse)
Years earlier, the late industrialist and crimelord Edwin Alva covertly sold Malleus the Doctor Moreau, an advanced rocketship originally intended for the U.S. military. Malleus used the ship to ferry personnel and supplies from Earth to his secret orbital laboratory, Transformation Station, where he transformed his most loyal minions into metahuman called Man-Melds. Recently, the Pentagon discovered Alva’s illegal sale of the Dr. Moreau though they did not know Malleus was the buyer. Malleus promptly began eliminating evidence tying the rocketship back to him. Malleus then learned Alva's bill of sale had wound up among the files of the industrialist's protege, Curtis Metcalf. Malleus wanted Lender to steal the file from Metcalf's company, Hard Company, before it was discovered. In exchange, Malleus would turn Lender into a Man-Meld. Lender eagerly desired the power enjoyed by the Man-Melds and accepted Malleus' deal. Soon, Lender was relocated to the ruins of a Chavin temple in the Peruvian rainforest that served as the secret launch site for the Doctor Moreau. There, he was introduce to the Man-Melds, Archer and Duke, who supervised operations at the temple base. Archer and Duke were initially skeptical of the geeky Lender, but soon warmed up to him as valued teammate. Lender familiarized himself with the base's computer network that he would use for his planned data theft. Archer and Duke also trained him how to fly the Doctor Moreau in case they needed a backup pilot. Soon after, Malleus ordered Archer and Duke to begin evacuating temple base, which would be destroyed with crates of nitroglycerin to further cover their tracks from the Pentagon. With his preparations complete, Lender infiltrated Hard Company's computer network and tried to steal the computer file. He was detected and thwarted by Hard Company computer expert Deacon Stuart. Lender soon halted his attempted theft left Stuart trace his location back to temple base. Changing tactics, Malleus dispatched the armored Fuselage to steal the file by force, but the Man Meld was defeated by Hardware (secretly Metcalf). Malleus activated Fuselage's self-destruct device to prevent him from revealing the geneticist's existence to Hardware. Ironically, Fuselage's death made Hardware more determined to identify who was behind the attacks on Hard Company. Thanks to information Stuart found in Alva's file, Hardware headed to Peru to begin his investigation. This information was also learned by the Preventative Measures Agency (PMA), who had secretly infiltrated Hard Company's computer network on behalf of the Pentagon to find leads on the Doctor Moreau’s location and then reclaim the rocket. PMA's infiltration went unnoticed by Deacon Stuart, who had been distracted by Lender’s hacking. However, Lender did notice the infiltration and realized the PMA would soon track his hacking back to Peru. Lender alerted Archer and Duke, who accelerated evacuation of the temple base. Unfortunately, Hardware and his ally Sanction arrived in the vicinity of the temple base sooner than expected with the help of a local guide. Local guerrillas hired by Archer and Duke ambushed the trio, but ceased their attack after Sanction gave them a healthy bribe. Lender then unleashed the Huenta Aires, a huge winged serpent created by Malleus, that killed the guide before it was slain by Hardware after a grueling battle. Archer and Duke arrived on the scene with reinforcements who captured Hardware and Sanction and brought them to the temple. Hardware and Sanction were imprisoned with the nitroglycerin that was rigged to explode when the Doctor Moreau made its final launch. The temple was then attacked by a squad of PMA agents, providing a diversion for Hardware and Sanction to escape their cell. By this point, Lender, Archer, and Duke were aboard the Doctor Moreau to escape, but were confronted by Hardware, who broke into the rocket's cabin. Duke attacked Hardware, who grievously wounded the Man-Meld with his retractable sword. Still, this short battle gave Lender enough time to complete preparations and launch the Doctor Moreau. The temple was destroyed by the subsequent explosion, but the PMA escaped thanks to Sanction warning them about the nitroglycerin. Lender covertly sent a radio distress call to Transformation Station about Hardware being aboard the Doctor Moreau. Once the ship docked, Hardware was promptly attacked by Malleus and the Man-Melds, stripped of his armor, and thrown into the station's prison cell. But Hardware soon escaped the cell, reclaimed his armor, and blasted his way out of Transformation Station into space. Malleus had arranged the escape as part of his scheme to turn Hardware into a Man-Meld via the organic nanobots he had injected into the hero's armor. (Hardware soon discovered the nanobots' presence and prevented his transformation just in time. ) Besides the nanobots, Malleus had also hidden a listening device in Hardware's armor. Thus, the geneticist overheard a radio conversation between Hardware and Sanction, who warned that PMA had deployed their weapons satellite to destroy Transformation Station along with the Doctor Moreau. Malleus immediately ordered everyone to evacuate the station and return to Earth aboard the Doctor Moreau. Hearing the evacuation alert, Lender feared leaving Transformation Station behind meant losing his only chance to become a Man-Meld. Lender confronted Malleus and demanded to be transformed into a Man-Meld before the station was abandoned. Under considerable stress, Malleus calmly explained that he would fulfill his promise after establishing a new laboratory on Earth. Unconvinced, Lender continued nagging Malleus, who finally snapped and fatally shot the teen in the head. | Powers = | Abilities = * : Lender was a word-class computer hacker and programmer with few rivals. * : He also was trained in piloting the rocketship, the Doctor Moreau. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = * Lender was 14 at the time of his death. * During their off hours at the Chavin temple, Lender would challenge Archer to video game contests played on the base's main monitor. Lender usually won these contests. | Recommended = | Links = }} Category:Computer Hacking Category:Computer Operation Category:Aviation Category:Pilots